Name: Norah Jane
Nationality: Dutch
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Current release: Norah Jane teams up with Mor.Lov for Godspeed, out via TLKBX.
Recommendations: Birdguy - Niet Zonder Reden (Album); Timi Yuro - Hurt!!!! (Album)

[Read our Mor.Lov interview]

If you enjoyed this Norah Jane interview and would like to know more about her music, visit her on Instagram, Soundcloud, and bandcamp.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

When I listen I don’t necessarily see a lot, but I feel it all. I can’t really describe what happens in my body, it’s unlike anything else. Whether I listen with my eyes open or closed really depends.

Sometimes the visuals or sceneries go really well with the music and it helps to take you into this different world, but often just the music is more than enough for me to create the same effect.

Entering/creating new worlds through music has always exerted a strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to listening to and creating music?

Being able to express. Surrendering to the music feels like freedom to me.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

At that age music already meant everything to me. I was always discovering new music, going to a lot of live shows, collecting vinyl, playing small gigs and making a lot of my own music.

The biggest change is that I work with a lot of different people now. Making and discovering music used to be solitary activities for me, since I didn’t have a lot of people around me who were interested in the same stuff as I was.

Tell me about one or two of your early pieces that you're still proud of (or satisfied with) – and why you're content with them.

I’m still happy with my first album Ginger Tea. I think it captured who I was and what I was making back then really well.



With Kee Priemus producing it and making everything come alive, I feel like it was a great first project for the road that I’m now going down.

I still sometimes play tracks from this album live and it’s really nice to see the songs still grow in that way.

What is your current studio or workspace like? What instruments, tools, equipment, and space do you need to make music?

Right now I just need a mic, a guitar, a notebook and some weed.

From the earliest sketches to the finished piece, tell me about the creative process for your current release, please.

I’ve got two releases coming up! The album with Morrison, called Godspeed started out when we had the idea to make a jungle EP. When we made some demos in different genres we decided we could turn it into an album. Then there were weeks or months of studio sessions with different homies joining in, and when we had a good amount of tracks we started making a selection.

When we revisited all the demos there were some tracks that completely changed, some that got a little touch up and some stayed the same. Then Morrison started mixing it and making a release plan. We started the whole process about a year ago. It’s now available only on vinyl. Digital streaming platforms will follow somewhere next year.

The album with Kevin went pretty fast. Our first session we just talked a lot about music and the second session we recorded 6 tracks. It was a very easy and natural process. I would show Kevin tracks that he’d sample and when he made a beat I started writing.



For the next project we want to challenge ourselves a bit more and work with more musicians instead of just samples. But I really like the idea and outcome for this first project. It’s called Forever Coastin and it’s on cassette, available on Bandcamp!

What role and importance do rituals have for you, both as an artist and a listener?

I’ve never really thought about this. But I guess my rituals are very important to me.

Something simple as having to put the vinyl on the record player makes me connect and engage with the music even more. Or rolling my joint before I start writing makes me feel comfortable and helps me tap into that flow. If that’s what you mean with rituals.

Are you acting out parts of your personality in your music which you couldn't or wouldn't in your daily life? If so, which are these?

With music I’m able to express things I couldn’t in any other way, so definitely. I think I’m closest to myself when making music.

I stop thinking and become really present, kind of like a child. I just say it exactly how I feel it without having to worry about how people will take it. Music is something I can always count on in that way, it won’t judge you and it can’t leave you. I have to be honest with it always.

In my ‘daily life’ I’m better at avoiding certain confrontations and layers of myself, but with music I just can’t.

Late producer SOPHIE said: “You have the possibility [...] to generate any texture, and any sound. So why would any musician want to limit themselves?” What's your take on that?

I don’t know why a musician would want to do that. I want to keep the freedom to go in any direction I want with my music.

I keep growing as a person so I grow as a musician, I think certain limits could keep you in the same place and I just don’t want that.


Norah Jane Interview Image (c) the artist

Do you feel that your music or your work as an artist needs to have a societal purpose or a responsibility to anyone but yourself?

I don’t think I have any responsibility to anyone or anything but myself.

I make music, because I have to. And I think it’s people’s and society’s responsibility what they do with it.

Once a piece is done and released, do you find it important that listeners understand it in a specific way? How do you deal with “misunderstandings?”

I don’t mind being misunderstood at all. I want people to take from it what they want. The beauty about any art/music, to me, is that it is open to interpretation and it can mean something different to everyone.

Even for myself; some of my tracks change meaning depending on where I’m at in life and what I’m dealing with in that moment. It just makes it more layered.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

Yes, this! I love the idea that music has been here a long time before we were and it is in everything. I think these natural sounds are super musical and we probably unconsciously draw inspiration from them.

The most moving experiences, to me, are really the little things; I enjoy the sound of birds, their melodies and rhythms. The sound of rain or leaves rustling in the wind. Even the sun has a rhythm, though you don’t hear it.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

Personally I don’t really enjoy silences, because that takes me into the chaos of my own head. This ties into the last question and probably explains why I look for music in everything. I agree with Glenn, it is the ultimate delight.

Sound and music have an insane influence on my mood and how I regulate and process emotions. Even something simple as humming can be super powerful.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

To me it’s very different. I can express anything and everything through music, nothing comes close to it.

What is a music related question that you would like to ask yourself – and what's your answer to it?

How can I get better? Practice.